This past year, the Cornell University Public Service Center instituted the Community Spirit Award to recognize Cornell students who actively participate in off-campus community service work. The award was created to provide community agencies with a means of honoring exemplary volunteers and community work-study students.

The center is again inviting agencies and Cornell faculty members with service-learning courses to provide nominations for the award, which, said Rnenee Farkas, the center's community programs coordinator, "is a great opportunity to recognize students, and it definitely means a lot coming from the community."

Community agencies and faculty members are encouraged to nominate students by the March 17 deadline.

Six students will be recognized in each of the award's five categories: "Dedicated Service," for strong commitment to a single agency or project; "Innovation in Service," for project initiation; "Community Building," for promoting understanding of a particular issue and fostering unity within the community; "Star Performer," for enthusiasm in service; and "Excellence in Academics and Service," for active involvement while maintaining a grade point average of 3.0 or higher.

Nominees can include student interns and volunteers enrolled in any Cornell course that has a community service component, students in the Community Work-Study program or any student volunteer involved in community service work.

A committee of community agency members, faculty members and students will judge the nominees, and a ceremony will be held for recipients of the award and their nominators on Wednesday, April 21, at 5 p.m. in Cornell's Biotechnology Building.

Winners of the Community Spirit Award will receive certificates of recognition and service pins, and their names will be added to the plaques hung in the Public Service Center.

The one-page nomination application for the award is available in 200 Barnes Hall on campus. For additional information on the award, nominations or volunteer opportunities, contact the Cornell Public Service Center at (607) 255-1148.